Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit reopens after stalling with guests aboard

Leah Zanolla | Posted: Oct 11, 2013 | Updated: Oct 19, 2014 - 9:25:27 AM
After stalling with passengers still onboard on Wednesday night, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Orlando reopened Thursday morning shortly after 10:00 am. As we reported that night, 12 people were stuck on the ride when a malfunction caused the safety brakes to lock in place while the ride was in the vertical position. Firefighters were called in and the guests were rescued, some as long as three hours after the stall.

The ride malfunction was blamed on a "tech glitch," which spokesman Tom Schroder declined to detail. Schroder said, “"The safety of our guests and the experience they have on our attraction is very important to us. For us, there is no such thing as a routine glitch. We put every resource we have against resolving them."
The ride closed again for a short time on Thursday, but reopened soon, and was not related to the incident Wednesday night.

The attraction has had a history of closures since its opening in August 2009.